Friday, February 08, 2008

As many of you noted this past Wednesday, Dickie V's voice seemed pretty tired by the end of the Duke-UNC game. So much so that he's going to have a wear a monitor for the G'Town-Louisville game this Saturday night...

Steven Zeitels, based at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, will have Vitale hooked up to an "ambulatory phonation monitor" — basically, he says, "a soft-rubber disk the size of a Band-Aid" hooked to a tiny computer meant to "measure vibrations of the voice box" — to see how Vitale could go easier on his throat.

Now, says Zeitels, Vitale has to get down to "breaking the old habits." Zeitels, who last year used the device he'll use on Vitale to monitor Aerosmith's Steven Tyler's voice box during a concert, says it's like an athlete rehabbing: Vitale's announcing, he says, "is basically athleticism."

I haven't been to an Aerosmith concert...well ever, so I don't know if there's been a change in Tyler's performance over the years. I also don't know if it's even possible for Vitale to "tone it down", but I guess we'll find out Saturday night.

Once again, he ruined the enjoyment of watching a quality game.After five minutes of his non-stop blabbler, I watched the next 35 minutes of the Georgetown-Louisville game with the mute on. I know several coaches who use the mute whenever Dick begins his hysterics.